Midland beat Belfry like they owed them money last year but lost three Seniors that went on to sign to play D-1 football.

 

 

Belfry enters reeling off a loss to Knoxville Catholic.

 

Can Belfry get back on the right track?

Haven't researched Midland too deep but from what I have seen so far from an overview:

 

- Do not have the elite level skill guys they had last year. Stapleton, Humphries, and Hendricks were as good of a trio of backs as Belfry had seen in a long time. They still have talent for sure, but those guys were scary good.

 

- Midland is still big, strong, and deep. They play platoon football. Their D-Line isn't quiet as stout as last year missing Donahue and they seem a little smaller up front on D. Defensively they look pretty similar to KnoxCath actually. Offensively they still have a very big and talented Oline.

 

- Midland is vulnerable against the spread. They don't have elite level athleticism at LB or DB, but they are built pretty well to defend running teams. Just tough and physical. Fumbles and negative plays have to be in the back of Belfry's mind again.

 

- Compared to last week and Catholic's track team, Midland is going to be a much slower pace. With that said, they have shown great improvement already from the start of the year.

 

 

 

For a comparable Kentucky team I used the same team last year and will use them again. The 2015 Cabell Midland team was VERY similar to Simon Kenton. Outside of differing Offensive styles, from a player standpoint and talent standpoint they were almost identical.

 

I will also compare this 2016 Midland team to SK up front and on Defense. Not an elite level defense but capable of getting enough stops and causing serious matchup problems. Their OLine is still very comparable to the Pioneers, but there is no comparison between the two at the Offensive skill spots.

 

Think of maybe Simon Kenton's line and Campbell County's skill.

Belfry could very likely lose their 2nd in a row this week. They also have a really tough battle in a few weeks against Johnson Central where they could lose again. And they could still end up being the best Belfry team ever.

 

The loss to Midland last year was demoralizing, and Belfry lost amid fumbles and penalties. The following week they did not rebound well, fumbled the ball all over the field and had to come from behind very late in the game to squeak by Lawrence County.

 

This time around, they are reeling from the loss to Knoxville Catholic where they had a real shot to win the game without the fumbles. Belfry moved the ball at will against KC, but killed themselves. So it is a little bit different mindset coming out of it, but still a tough loss with self inflicted wounds. The way they rebound from that loss will be very telling about what kind of character they have. They owe Midland, but if they come out hungover from last week's loss they could get wiped out again.

 

That is the story line I'm interested in. How tough are the Pirates mentally? Can they regroup and come back ready for their 2nd challenge in a row? We shall see.

Should be a great game...I'll go with Belfry in a close one at home.

 

28-27

I get that Midland lost some talent from last year, but that team gave the Pirates a good old fashioned whooping 49-7. What's worse, a bunch of players in red gave up during that game and it was obvious, incuding guys with D1 offers who should be leaders.

 

Is Belfry ready to make up a 42 point deficit?

Should be a great game...I'll go with Belfry in a close one at home.

 

28-27

I'll take it.

 

There are a lot of story lines here. Midland is the biggest school in WV with about 1900 kids to Belfry's 625 or so. Midland's coach was a coach at Lawrence County for several years and is very familiar with Belfry's style. Lawrence always gave Belfry a tough game during those years, but didn't have near the talent level or number of bodies at their disposal that Midland has. WV vs KY. City vs County. Payback for last year.

 

Good stuff.

It'll be an interesting game no less. In most cases....especially with Belfry.....their big games boil down to turnovers and penalties. In most cases, they have the talent and coaching chops to play with most anyone. But they simply cannot implode the way they did last week in Knoxville. I think they rebound and win 42-20

This game will do exactly what it's intended, win or lose...

 

better prepare Belfry for another run through the playoffs to a State Championship.

It'll be an interesting game no less. In most cases....especially with Belfry.....their big games boil down to turnovers and penalties. In most cases, they have the talent and coaching chops to play with most anyone. But they simply cannot implode the way they did last week in Knoxville. I think they rebound and win 42-20

Agree 100%, and I love our coaching staff. They do as good a job as anyone looking at the big picture and getting their team ready for a playoff run. I'm extremely proud to be a Pirate. :thumb:

Tusi stole my thunder! We are tracking the same way.

 

 

I have seen a lot of people, Belfry fans and non-Belfry fans, make the comment that "I feel bad for Midland after Belfry just lost" or "The fumbles were an one time thing"

 

Truth of the matter is, typically when Belfry gets hit with the fumble or execution bug it is often not a simple one week fix.

 

As Wausi mentioned people quickly forget that after Midland gave Belfry a good ole fashioned country butt kicking last year Belfry nearly lost to Lawrence County in a game that they couldn't hang on to the football and often times put themselves behind the sticks with costly procedure penalties. It took a late 4th Quarter rally to come from double digits down and win the game.

 

From what I see on film from Midland this is a team that checks all the boxes and is improving leaps and bounds week to week after losing a ton of vital Seniors. They don't scare me on film like last year when I watched them, but this is a solid football team.

 

Just to give an idea... Tates Creek is now red hot and the 2nd best 6A team in Fayette County. Tates Creek is a legitimate Top 15 team in 6A. From what I see on film I would take Midland to beat Tates Creek by 4-5 TD's.

The other factor that gets glossed over is I honestly think Cabell Midlan'ds Head Coach Luke Salmons has the defensive recipe to compete with Belfry.

 

Salmons used to coach in KY at Lawrence County before moving to "bigger and better" things at WV's largest school. Though he doesn't have the trophies or the large sheet of wins, I don't think that tells the story here.

 

2008: Belfry layed waste to everything in their path in the regular season and goes 13-0 until a surprise upset in the Semi's. Lawrence County goes 0-11. Final score of Belfry vs. Lawrence? 20-13 Belfry

 

Last year Midland stonewalled Belfry. Against KnoxCath Belfry actually dominated on the ground when they were not turning it over. Belfry turned it over against Midland as well, but when Belfry was running the ball and holding on to it they struggled to gain yardage. Their lone score came on a long pass.

 

I have said it before and will say it again. YOU DO NOT BEAT BELFRY BY STICKING 9 IN THE BOX AT THE L.O.S.! Teams continue to do this trying to emulate what Breathitt County did in 2008 and they continue to get dominated. Haywood has evolved his Offense and now when teams do this it backfires.

 

The way you slow down Belfry consistently is to play your Base D and play disciplined assignment football and ask your LB's to play the game of their season. Midland did this last year and Salmons did it in 2008. Give up 3-4 yards consistently, but take calculated risks to try to create tackles for loss, and take one aspect of the triple option away from the game plan entirely. Keep your LB's out of the wash at the LOS and let them read and react. This helps keep the big play from breaking.

 

If Belfry is going to win Friday patience is paramount. I don't think CM allows chunk yardage to them most of the game and the Pirates will have to be content with 12+ play drives until they can start wearing them down and forcing them to act in desperation. Then you can pop a big one possibly.

I say Belfry bounces back from a terrible showing last week in Knoxville, I expect them to play much more disciplined and win at home. Not sure how Belfry compares to JC this year ( we will see soon enough) but JC beat the #2 team in WV Capital by 17 earlier this year......same Capital team just beat Cabell Midland by 19.... so if this is perhaps the best Belfry team ever I'd expect them to put last week behind them and beat CM convincingly.

Belfry wins this one comfortably. Midland is down compared to the past several years with their size in the backfield, their DL and LBs. They don't have the breakaway speed that they have had in the past. Safe estimate, a 3-4 TD win is not out of the realm for the Pirates if they limit putting the ball erroneously on the ground.

 

BHS-48

CM-10

Wow....some of these predictions are certainly interesting to say the least. I've not seen Cabell this year...so honestly, I'm flying blind regarding their team and who they have returning from last years squad. However.....IMO, Belfry will be hard pressed to beat this team by 30+. I could be wrong...and will gladly eat crow if I am. I just don't see that type of game developing. CM is still strong, relatively fast/quick and despite losing a lot of talented players last year...still have a solid nucleus. Last year....coupled with the fumbles Belfry suffered (ala Knoxville game last week)....Cabell simply shoved the ball right down the Pirates throat. Honestly, I hadn't seen a team fully dominate a Belfry squad that way since Johnson Central did in 2013. Too think this CM team has dropped off that much is maybe wishful thinking by many. With that being said....I do think the Pirates avenge last season's loss. IMO, Corbett is the X-factor for this Pirate team. They have all kinds of weapons...but when he's right...he takes the offense to a completely different level. You saw glimpses of that last week between all the turnovers. I'll take the Pirates in a 14-22 point victory. But....the game will probably be a lot closer than the score indicates.

One thing I saw in the game last week that and I noticed in the PCB at times too was how the d-line seemed to be a little slow off the snap. Was this because they knew they would be dealing with double teams? Am I just seeing things? Was it the level of competition? I won't name players but one in particular seemed to be less explosive off the line. Maybe due to increase in size?